“Michael R. Bloomberg is funding a last-minute spending blitz to bolster former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in Texas and Ohio, directing millions toward television advertising in two red states that have shifted away from President Trump in the general election. A political adviser to Mr. Bloomberg said the billionaire former mayor of New York City would use his super PAC, Independence USA, to air intensive ad campaigns in all television markets in both states. The cost of the two-state campaign is expected to total around $15 million” the New York Times reports.
Said NYT polling expert Nate Cohn on Twitter: “With more than 80% of 2016 voters already in, you might think it’s too late for this. I don’t really think so. Trump’s strength in our poll is among Latino voters who haven’t yet voted, probably aren’t too engaged, and probably have conflicting views that ads can exploit… There are also a handful of undecided and minor party voters who you might hope to lure over. In our poll, they disapproved of the president. So there’s some upside there too. And that’s leaving aside the unusual and huge uncertainty about what the turnout looks like. In our poll, Biden’s up 7 among early voters. If you need to try and overcome that kind of a deficit on Election Day, in on the assumption that you can match the turnout we see in early voting, I don’t think you want a bunch of negative ads at the last second. I’d guess they can’t play serious defense–and Bloomberg could always re-raise anyway – which makes it all the more dangerous.”